passing by

The mud held me back and the rubber boots felt awkward but necessary. We were walking behind the city of Baños, a small town that I have visited since I was a child. Whole Saturday afternoons would be spent next to the jukebox-perhaps the reason why I can sing along to old cumbias and lambadas that my mother loves- while my little sister and I would splash each other with the water in the bathtub we kept in the garden and pretended was our pool. Baños from Illuchi-Los Sauces I had been to Baños so often that I had stopped questioning what activities were available; the trek to Illuchi-Los Sauces was the first eye-opener. My students were eager to show me each plant and its properties, reed and putzos, llantén and tree tomatoes. Initially, we strolled by San Francisco bridge, a beautiful viewpoint for the Pastaza river and the cliff that separates the town from its surroundings. As we were walking uphill, we encountered a little lodge named ´Las Granadillas´ after an endemic